KAITLYN EWALD

2024 Graduate with Highest Honors - UIUC College of Applied Sciences, Kinesiology
Major, Business Minor, James Scholar, Academic All-Big Ten, Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, Academic All-American, 3.98 GPA at Illinois.  

Kaitlyn received her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois on May 13, 2024. She completed her Senior season as an Illinois Fighting Illini Gymnast in 2023 / 2024. Highlights of her senior season include consistent performances on the bars, beam, and floor exercise with high scores of 9.95, 9.875, and 9.875 respectively. She represented the Fighting Illini in 15 UB lineups with an NQS of 9.835, 15 beam lineups with an NQS of 9.85, and 7 floor lineups with an NQS of 9.785. Kaitlyn also earned an event title on the uneven bars with a career high score of 9.95. She rounded out the season being voted the 2023-2024 Illinois Women's Gymnastics Team Hardest Worker. Kaitlyn is currently in the transfer portal to complete her fifth and final year of eligibility as well as pursue a Master's degree. 

Career at Illinois:

Kaitlyn completed a successful Freshman season at Illinois in 2021 where she competed in all 11 meets for the Illini during a Covid-19 altered season.  She competed in the UB lineup for all 11 meets and in the FX lineup for 8 of the 11 meets.  In her 11 UB lineups, she came away with 3 event titles and a season-high score of 9.900.  She competed for the Illini in the Big Five Meet, the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Athens Regional.  Kaitlyn finished the season with a 9.881 NQS on UB which tied her with Senior teammate Nicole Biondi for highest team UB NQS.

In 2021, the #22 Illini set a program record high score of 197.525 at Huff Hall in a win vs. #7 Minnesota.  Additionally, the Illini finished tied for third in the Big Ten Conference and achieved the #16 ranking in the Country to be one of the seeded teams in the Athens Regional.

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As a sophomore, Kaitlyn competed in all but one of the 12 meets for the Illini in 2022, missing the opening meet of the season due to a minor injury.  She competed in the UB lineup for 7 meets, the FX lineup for 11 meets, the BB lineup for 3 meets and had several exhibition routines throughout the season as well.  She recorded career and season-high scores of 9.875 on FX and 9.850 on BB during the season.  She had a season-high and tied her UB career high score of 9.900 at Kentucky.   She competed for the Illini in the Big Five Meet, the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Seattle Regional. 

In 2022, the #19 Illini recorded a season-high, highest ever Regional score, and

second-highest program record score of 197.375 at the Seattle NCAA Regional.  

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As a Junior, Kaitlyn completed in all but the first meet of the season due to a

minor pre-season injury.  She worked her way back into the lineup and competed on

FX and UB for most of the season, eventually tying a career high on UB and finishing

in Sixth Place on UB at the NCAA Norman Regional.

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About Kaity:

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Kaitlyn trained at The Zone Gymnastics in Evansville, IN, prior to joining the Illini.  She was a four-year Level 10 Gymnast, a 2017 Level 10 JO Nationals Qualifier, a 2016 Level 9 Eastern Nationals 5th Place AA finisher and a 5-Time Indiana State Champion.

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Outside of the gym, Kaity enjoys her dog (Bella) and cats (Mr. Whiskers and Lena), spending time with her Sister, Courtney, and hanging out with friends.

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Kaitlyn is the daughter of Mike and Rhonda Ewald.  Kaitlyn's sister, Courtney (Age 19), is a Freshman at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and is a member of the Delta Zeta sorority.